Adriatic Metals shares fall as loss widens amid production ramp-up
Adriatic Metals PLC on Monday reported a wider annual loss despite booking its first revenue, as 2024 marked Adriatic’s transition from mine developer to metals producer at its flagship Vares silver operation.
Shares were down 11% at 194.00 pence in London on Monday afternoon.
Adriatic operates the Rupice silver mine and Vares processing plant in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
It reported a pretax loss of $67.4 million for 2024, widened from $30.1 million in 2023.
Adriatic recorded revenue of $27.6 million in 2024, compared to none in 2023, following the start of concentrate shipments from the Vares site.
Administrative costs rose to $39.9 million from $18.4 million, and Adriatic paid finance expenses of $28.7 million, up from $5.5 million.
Gross profit totalled just $977,000 after $25.7 million in cost of goods sold and nearly $1 million in distribution and selling costs. Exploration expenses more than doubled to $5.2 million.
Adriatic said that, due to the early-stage nature of the company and the Vares silver operation transitioning from developer to the producer, no interim dividend was paid and no final dividend is recommended for 2024.
Adriatic said its ramp-up to commercial production continues, with first-quarter 2025 output totalling 1.3 million ounces of silver equivalent, up from 900,000 ounces in the fourth quarter of 2024. Revenue for the latest quarter rose 23% to $33 million.
The company reduced its net debt to $85 million at the end of March, from $129 million at year-end, after making a $20 million repayment to Orion Mine Finance.
Separately, Adriatic reported ‘minimal change’ in the latest mineral resource estimate for the Rupice deposit and a slightly reduced ore reserve, due to higher cost-based cut-off assumptions and 2024 depletion. The Vares operation remains on track to reach its nameplate capacity of 800,000 tonnes per annum in the second half of 2025.
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